A heart's true colours
by May La Nee
Summary: Hermione Granger developed a crush on professor Snape. This fic is going to be LONG, and it's rated M just in case I decide to make things explicit. If you don't approve of student/teacher relationships and possible teenage pregnancy, please don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**This fanfic will be LONG! And STRAIGHT! xD  
Inspired by April****, **_**the**_** Severus Snape/Hermione Granger fan,  
w****ith help from (my betas) Joanna and Lauren (THANKS SO MUCH!!)**

Dedicated to Laerke for loving Sev and being my SevSev**!**

How clever of him, actually… To make them write reports on werewolves…  
Really; so simple yet so efficient! If it wasn't for him they might still have not known. And who knows what would have happened to Harry, Ron and her if that was the case? And to Sirius?  
The 'what ifs' had been eating her brain away every time anything reminded her of the Potions master, and she was embarrassed to admit even to her diary that she might be developing a crush on him.

Her diary… Heh.  
She put it in her bag; she only ever wrote in it when certain thoughts insisted on staying in her head. She had the hideous plastic thing since she was 11, when her grandmother gave it to her not too long before she died.

Hermione had been determined to write in it every day of her stay in Hogwarts, but after a week in the first year she had become sloppy. There was so much homework to do and so much to learn… Surely nana wouldn't blame her.

Hermione was glad that she never spotted her nana's ghost anywhere… since the books were all consistent in mentioning people who are not afraid to die do not become ghosts.  
She swallowed the thought away; Don't think about the dead; think about the living! There are so many dead people there's no sense in thinking of them all the time… Before you know it your own time is over.  
Here she went again; getting her mind sidetracked. It had been this way ever since Seve-… Snape. Ever since _professor Snape_ had hinted them into knowing what professor Lupin was, it was as if Hermione had lost her ability to focus all together.  
She sighed and looked at her hands. Would he ever hold them? What would his hands feel like? The head of Slytherin house… She chuckled at her own ridiculous thoughts.

"Ms. Granger?"

"Yes sir?" Hermione snapped back to reality with a shock.  
It remained quiet, except for some snickering of her classmates. Wondering why, Hermione looked up at the teacher.

Professor McGonagall stared at her, and Hermione shook her head in confusion. Since when didn't she pay attention in Transfiguration!?  
"I'm sorry professor," she quickly stammered, surprised by her own lack of focus. Professor McGonagall gave her best student a puzzled look before continuing her explanation.

"What's the matter with you?" Ron asked her as they walked down the corridor, on their way to the next lesson. "What do you mean?" Hermione asked, knowing very well what Ron meant.  
"You were dozing off in class," Harry clarified, walking between them. "Annnd… you're Hermione Granger. You don't doze off."  
Hermione scoffed and shook her head. "Looks like I do, doesn't it?"

Harry knew there was more to it than that, but he didn't want to push her. He'd probably find out sooner or later.  
He attempted to answer her smiling face with a smile of his own, but Ron just shook his head; "You've never not paid attention in class."  
Hermione sighed; "Ron…" she shook her head; "It's just hormones, all right? It'll pass."  
"You never had hormones _before_!" Ron added, but he didn't sound like he was genuinely expecting a reply.

"What's our next class?" Harry asked when he noticed Ron's tone, and Hermione tripped when the answer popped up in her mind. Ron caught her; "You all right?" he asked as he put her back on her feet.  
"p-Potions," Hermione stammered, before shaking her head; "Put me down?" she asked with a slightly uncomfortable laugh in her voice. Ron  
was still holding her despite her being all balanced once more.  
"Uhm…" He clumsily let go of her, and didn't know where to put his hands.

She gave him a quick smile and then hurried along the way to the dungeons.  
"What's with the rush?" Harry asked when he suddenly realized Hermione was way ahead of them.  
"You're right; I've been dozing off. And I can't afford doing that in Potions. It'll be a lot more difficult this year and being late _certainly_ won't help."  
Ron's eyes widened as he rushed to catch up: "More difficult? You mean…. _More_ difficult?"  
"Well-…. Yeah? You should try reading the book before classes start Ron, it's not a big effort to make and it'd _really_ help you."  
Ron sighed and shook his head.

"Neville!" Harry suddenly exclaimed when the other boy appeared right besides him; "How long have you been stalking us?" he added, but Neville didn't seem to realize it was a joke.  
"No! No I don't stalk you; I only just caught up with you." He smiled briefly and then focussed his attention to Hermione's back; "Hermione?"  
She gave a quick glance over her shoulder to indicate she heard him, but made no attempt to slow down so Neville rushed to catch up with her.

"Are you all right?"  
"I'm fine!" she replied in an aggravated tone; "Harry and Ron have been asking me the same thing and I'm getting tired of repeating myself," she added in a milder tone. It was obvious she wanted to add something but she changed her mind and focussed on the stairs instead.

Neville slowed down to walk with Harry and Ron again, who seemed as confused as he was by Hermione's behaviour.

"Eager to get in the dungeons, isn't she?" Ron asked suspiciously. Harry raised a shoulder; "Maybe she's ill? She barely had breakfast either. I'm sure she'd tell us if something was up."  
Ron scoffed; "Even _Hermione_ wouldn't rush into the dungeons if she were ill! Not unless it got in her brain!"  
Neville nodded; of all people in Hogwarts he was probably the one who had the most trouble imagining rushing _into_ the dungeons.  
Ron noticed Neville's face and gave the other a sympathetic smile. "Just imagine him in your nan's dress," Harry said and patted Neville on his shoulder, just before they reached the Potions classroom.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm very pleased with this chapter (and with the amount of people who added this to their story alert! Thanks so much!) and I hope you will enjoy it too.  
Please; tell me everything you can think of in your review. I have a main story planned, but I can always change it a bit depending on what you think and expect.**

"Page 73; you will find the ingredients displayed on the table up front. One hour from now I will grade your potions."

A big sigh came from the entire Gryffindor half from the classroom, but Hermione's was the only one that wasn't annoyed.

"He didn't even say which one we have to make!" Ron moaned, but Hermione wasn't affected by him; "Page 73!" she said happily, and opened her book so enthusiastically it was almost as if she was dancing.

The people sitting close to her gave her weird looks, but she didn't care. She was going to show _professor Snape_ she was more than a know-it-all. The thought made her smile.

He had repeatedly offended her, every time he called her that. But over summer she had developed a strange feeling… a form of 'understanding' of some sort. It was as if it had suddenly become completely obvious she had simply completely misunderstood his sense of humour! And perhaps entire Slytherin's sense of humour with that!

Oh yes; she was in for a brand new start with the other House. Call it a New Year's Resolution.

And she was determined not to give in until she had experienced _professor Snape_ with this new point of view of hers.

"What the hell…" Pansy mumbled, flipping through her book after coming to realize she had taken ingredients from the wrong page. Hermione just passed by her table though, and stopped to see what the problem was.

"Enjoying yourself, Mudblood?" the Slytherin girl looked up at Hermione with an annoyed expression.

Hermione suppressed the way that remark made her feel. If she wanted Sev- _professor Snape_ to notice her, she had to do something to stand out without speaking out of turn.  
Helping his darlings would be a start;

"If you add lemongrass it will even it out," she said, as she pointed the ingredients Pansy had checked off in her book; "you won't have to start over."

"What the hell?" Pansy looked at Hermione's hand and then at her face; "Sod off and mind your own business if you please? I can brew my own potions, thank you very much."

"I'm just-" her protest was interrupted by someone scoffing behind her; "…being an insufferable know-it-all?"

That voice! Hermione had to remember how to breathe for a moment, for the sound of it had blanked her mind completely.

"Well…" she wasn't sure what she was going to say in reply, but she wasn't just going to hang her head down! She turned around to face the man, feeling her heart pound so hard she was sure it must have doubled in size. "I w-was only…"

"Minding _my_ business!" Pansy turned to professor Snape then; "She was laughing, sir! She saw I was having trouble and she was mocking me!"

"I wasn't-!" Hermione had no chance to protest; "The Mudblood is a bully now?" Draco strode over to Pansy's table with his arms crossed; "Don't worry, we'll get back at her,"

"No! I was _only_ trying to help!"

The teacher's thin lips curled into an insincere smile.

"I can't appreciate you mocking my students, ms. Granger… Thirty points from Gryffindor." The Gryffindor half of the classroom sighed and moaned; they had only gotten ten points in total from Transfiguration today.

"…and because I'm quite sure merely distracting points won't teach you, I will have to add detention."

Hermione couldn't help but smile happy as a child when she heard she'd be having detention, and before she realized it she blurted out a "thank you!"

She then walked back to her table and sat down, a look of pure bliss on her face.

"You _helped_ a _Slytherin_?" Ron mumbled after looking at her face in disbelief for a few seconds. Harry nodded, and then tapped Hermione's shoulder. She sighed in a shaky way as a response. "Did you just thank Snape for giving you detention?"

Hermione nodded slowly, pressing her lips together. She didn't want to have them push her off her cloud.

"Have you gone mad?" Seamus blurted from a few rows behind her, and most Gryffindors seemed to agree.

"Have you!?" Ron hissed at her, but he made sure to keep his voice down. Snape had just finished helping Pansy add lemongrass to her potion, and Ron didn't want to risk losing his house _more_ points.

Gryffindor was quiet and productive for the rest of the hour, until a moan escaped at the sound of their homework; to write a report on all features, uses, and all positive-, negative- and side-effects of the potion.

Hermione started the moment she heard it…-in fact; she had written a few lines of this essay before he mentioned there would be homework in the first place!

"Little show-off, aren't you?" _Professor Snape_ muttered when he came by her table to judge her potion, and saw how much of the essay she had already done.

"I can't help you're so predictable, professor," Hermione replied without looking up. She felt _so_ excited it was hard not to bounce off her seat!

The class had gone entirely silent at her remark, and Hermione was well aware of his eyes trying to drill in the back of her head. She suppressed her smile and held her breath, wondering what was to come.

She knew her potion was perfect, but…

Without another word _professor Snape_ scraped his quill over his parchment.  
She could hear one…two…_three_ scrapes, and exhaled slowly and victoriously.

Now for detention…


	3. Chapter 3

**I got a question about the last bit of chapter two; here is for the people who didn't get it but also didn't ask: Three scrapes means she got a three digit grade. Small assignments like potions are graded from 0 to 100, meaning she got the full 100 mark.**** This fanfic has more followers than my other ones together, and I will try to make the updates worth it. I'm in an exam period now so it will be a bit slow, but I'm sure I'll be able to pick up the pace soon!**

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

She nodded; "I need to sort out my detention."

"Ah," Ron said shortly, "the one you thanked him for, hm?"

She nodded at him, too; "_Yes_, Ron. And you'll see how it all works out so _please_ let me sort this out, all right?"

"So you have a plan?" Ron asked with a raised brow. Hermione beamed in reply.

Harry put his quill in his bag; "Okay…You'll be late for Charms though."

"You'll live without me, I'm sure," she said with a smile and another nod. "You better not be late too,… get us some points, yeah?" She said at Ron and Harry's backs.

Malfoy heard it though and scoffed, but Hermione didn't care. At the sound of Malfoy's voice Harry turned and gave Hermione at thumbs up.

All students had left the room now.  
All of them, except Hermione. Trying to ignore the fluttery feeling in her abdomen she floated to the front of the classroom on her pink cloud, and had to put her hand on the teacher's desk as an anchor to reality.  
She inhaled deeply when _professor Snape_ looked up at her from his papers. "What's the detention, professor?" She smiled at him and had to try hard not to overdo it.

Slightly distracted _professor Snape_ looked on his watch and then up at her. "Don't you have Charms now?" he asked in a bored tone.

She gasped in surprise; "How do you know my classes?" Had he studied her schedule? Her heart was pounding in her throat.

He gave her an investigating look and then drawled "...I'll leave that for you to find out… "  
She smiled at him broadly and put her hair behind her ear. Four more seconds passed.

He raised a brow.

"I would like to get detention sorted right now, sir," she said enthusiastically. "I'm ahead in Charms so it can wait. How about uhm-… Heh," She dropped her bag and reached in it for her planner; "Well of course I can't plan when you want to give me detention," she was beaming, "_Sir_. But er,…?"

"Miss Granger… Are you all right?" Severus Snape asked carefully. Usually students weren't this eager to get detention from him. _Especially_ not Gryffindor students.

She just nodded and opened her planner.

He narrowed his eyes when she skipped through the pages to get to today's date. What was the point of punishment if the one receiving it wanted it? It wasn't actually punishment then, was it? But then again; _obviously_ there was something wrong with her. Perhaps he could talk to her about it then; at least they'd both have the time and focus for it.

"I expect you in my office tonight at eight sharp," he said briefly, and then turned back to his own business.

She stood next to him still, and was rummaging her bag for a quill. This was going to take a while… he offered her his, just to get her to sod off a bit sooner.

Her eyes grew large when she saw him hand her the quill, and it took her a while to realize she was supposed to take it. "th-Thank you…" she stammered breathlessly, as she held it without taking her eyes off of him.  
He raised a brow, and she snapped back into her right mind. Her hand was shaking and she was breathing heavily as she wrote down her detention.

The ink he used was blacker than her own somehow. She couldn't get her eyes off of it as it slightly spread in the paper. Like spider webs; why did he have such a sharp quill?

_Detention with professor Snape, this evening at eight o'clock._

She had intentionally used as many letters as she could, and her hand shook as she handed him back his quill.

He was still looking at her as he took his quill back, his eyes narrowed. He recognized this behaviour… He had seen many students in love with their teacher. It rarely occurred with him though, and it had _never_ happened with a Gryffindor student before.  
Would she even be genuine? She didn't seem the type to mess around…

It didn't matter though; she's a student, he's a teacher. They're even in different houses!

"Well erm- I have Charms now," she said with a smile as she put her planner in her bag. She didn't pick it up yet, nor did she walk away. It was as if she wanted to add something.

He didn't have time for this madness, and even if he did he didn't believe in it. He gave a slight nod and turned back to checking the first year's homework.

Hermione looked at him for a few more seconds. He was just a perfect picture, wasn't he? His roman nose, and then that hair… What would he smell like?

Embarrassed by her inappropriate curiosity but determined to give into it, she bend forward to pick up her bag and inhaled deeply through her nose.

Vaguely, very vaguely, she could smell him. The pink cloud surrounded her once more and got in her head. It took her a second to pick up the strap of her bag, and when she did she quickly put it over her shoulder. He wasn't looking at her though… But it took more than a lack of visual to knock her off her cloud!

She floated out of the room and turned to look at him one last time. He didn't look up.


	4. Chapter 4

**I have many fanfics going, so updates on a single fic aren't frequent. If you'd read all my fics though you'd see I do update quite frequently. ;D**** Please don't hesitate to tell me what you think! Fav. bits, least fav. bits, bits you think are OoC… anything. Thanks!**

It was an interesting thought though… Hermione Granger, Muggleborn Gryffindor, having a crush on _him_ of all people. She wasn't ugly. Not at all. The first few years she…-she might have been. But now her teeth had a normal length she was all right. It wasn't like he was the embodiment of a god either.

The first year's Gryffindors and Slytherins entered the classroom and took their seats. Severus was glad to find they were quiet and quick. His teaching didn't allow careless chatting and lazing around, but it probably also had something to do with the students barely knowing each other yet any way. They were in their first year, after all.

He gave them their homework back, talked them through it and then instructed them to read page 43 carefully.

Now… His mind drifted back to miss Granger. Would she really have a crush on him? That would be interesting. It would never work out because there wasn't a chance in Hell it was more than an overdose of hormones, but it was interesting.

Occasionally he imagined what it was like to 'get with' a student. A man is allowed to fantasize, right? Well; his fantasy was a lovely bright witch to talk about beliefs and morals with in front of a fireplace while enjoying a good wine, to mess around with in the corridors when everyone else was attending their lessons, and to lay in bed with until noon every weekend after long sessions of-… No!

In his mind he saw miss Granger lay next to him in his bed.  
There was no chance that was going to work.  
Not a chance; He wasn't going to give her one.

He was a _teacher_! The _Slytherin_ teacher -not like that would make a difference.

Relationships between students and teachers weren't allowed, at least not until one of them transferred to another school.

Perhaps Severus _could_ –theoretically- get away with it. Albus Dumbledore was a great man, and a very understand man at that. Surely he could- No.

Albus had done more than enough for him, and Severus wasn't even willing to bring up the topic of dating a student.

The thought was interesting though… And as long as it remained a thought and nothing more, it would be all right.

Absent-mindedly he wrote down what class he was teaching now, and what he was teaching them. Then he stood up from behind his desk; "Which one of you can tell me what the most important ingredient in this potion is?"

A few students raised their hands. He chose the student that seemed least interested and focussed to answer his question.

* * *

Because Hermione was late for Charms she couldn't afford to chat with her friends there. Not like she wanted to; Severus Snape occupied her mind and she made her way through class on auto-pilot entirely. And even if he wasn't; school work was her priority in school. Dating a teacher would probably help her with it!

She smiled brightly at her parchment and doodled some hearts on it. Surely doodling on parchment meant for schoolwork wasn't very Hermione-like, even _she_ thought so. But professor Flitwick was a nice man; perhaps he would even appreciate some decoration!

As usual at the beginning of the school year, there were a lot of essays to write. Hermione figured out for herself that this was mainly for the professors to check how much the students remembered of the previous year, and to refresh the students' own memories too.

Hermione knew she had nothing to worry about; she reread last year's books over summer and took the ones she didn't know entirely with her. It made her trunk heavier, but it didn't matter. If her focus wouldn't get better she was really going to need them!

"Break time!" Ron said quite suddenly, and Hermione was so startled she dropped her quill. As she picked it up from the ground she remembered holding Severus' quill. She should have… done something? Hm… Perhaps next time…

"What's this then?" Harry stood by Hermione's seat holding her homework. "Is it Love-Your-Teacher day?"  
"Hm?" Hermione got up from under her desk, "Er… Yeah?" She grabbed her parchment from Harry's hands and quickly put it in her bag.

"First you run into the dungeons to see Snape, you _thank _him for detention, and then you're drawing hearts for Flitwick. It's-"

"Different," Hermione said with a smile. "I know. Ready for a break? I know I am."

Ron was waiting for them in the doorway, and together the three of them went to the Great Hall.

It was crowded there. The Beauxbatons students joined the Ravenclaw table, and the Durmstrang students joined the Slytherins. Luckily none of them were too interested in the Gryffindor table, so the trio could easily find a seat.

Hermione was quite quiet during the break, but nobody got a chance to truly notice because Ron wouldn't stop talking about Viktor Krum.

Hermione didn't mind either; this gave her a chance to think without feeling the nagging feeling she should be doing something else, like paying attention.

Absent-mindedly she looked at the teacher's table, and quite to her surprise she saw Sev- _professor Snape_ look back at her. She felt her heart and lungs stop working for a moment as she felt their eyes lock.

He then blinked and looked away.

Her heart was pounding again and with shaking hands she took a sip of her tea. Burning her lips and tongue on the hot liquid snapped her back to reality, and with a blush on her face she spent the rest of the break on her Charms essay.


End file.
